Dave, you along with others helped me greatly on our first cruise last Sept. We are also booked on the same cruise this Sept. I took 3 bottles of wine on board for dinner and paid a 10 dollar corkage fee for each. My question is how in the world do I get by not paying this fee. Thanks,
Jerry

It has been at least 3 years since we last brought our own bottle of wine to dinner, so maybe things have been tightened up a bit. Back then we didn't ask to waive the fee. I would just hand the bottle to the waiter and we were served with no mention of the corkage fee.

Just fill the plastic scope/mouthwash bottles with your alcohol of choice and used the food coloring to match it up. I've done this several times now with no problem. I could care less about the cruise lines revenue. Do they really need to charge like $6-$10 a drink ?

Originally posted by eaglesrlife:
Just fill the plastic scope/mouthwash bottles with your alcohol of choice and used the food coloring to match it up. I've done this several times now with no problem. I could care less about the cruise lines revenue. Do they really need to charge like $6-$10 a drink ?

The prices are typical for a resort. As for their revenue.....I don't dwell on it but I do understand that the more of it the passengers cut into the more likely the basic cruise fare will increase and affect everybody - including the booze smugglers.

Sure i understand they need to make cash and if not the fares will go up - But if they raise the rates $20-$30 next time, and i save about $100-$200 drinking my alcohol from my scope bottles, i'm cool with it.

Originally posted by eaglesrlife:
Sure i understand they need to make cash and if not the fares will go up - But if they raise the rates $20-$30 next time, and i save about $100-$200 drinking my alcohol from my scope bottles, i'm cool with it.

Well, as long as your cool with it then I guess it's okay.

Maybe you should use a MadDog 20/20 bottle with that, and a paper bag. It'll look more authentic.

As far as the corkage fee thing goes.. The "way" around it is to go to the CCL website and you can get their wine list. IF you select something they stock on the ship to bring with you, you can make the claim that it was a welcome aboard basket and then they do not charge the fee.

Also note that they only would charge a fee if you brought the wine to dinner. You can open all the wine you want in your cabin.

I've been reading this thread with great interest. My wife and I are going on Triumph on Feb 24, 2007. I too would like to save money on alcohol but I don't really want to go against Carnival's rules. So, this afternoon my wife phoned Carnival's Bon Voyage services and ordered 2 bottles of rum to be delivered to our room for arrival. Each 1 litre bottle cost $40 and we ordered a dozen cokes to go with it. We are now legal and within Carnival's rules. And while $40 is more than I would have to spend to smuggle it on board I think it is a win/win situation - I'm within the rules and I can make a whole whack of drinks for $40 a bottle. We will also take a couple of bottles of wine to enjoy on the balcony - which I understand to also be "OK with Carnival".

You have to phone ahead to do this - you can't do it once you are on board. But, I really think it allows us to save some money, stay within the rules, and we can all be happy.

Gary.. there you go... Yes, while $40 is not cheap, if you can make 12 drink from it (easily), you are money ahead. You could have brought your own coke on board.. but if you are flying that can be a headache. I wonder what other liquors they offer with this???